


Soulmates

by sadIittlenerdking



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, M/M, Platonic Soulmates, even that she has more than one friend, margo realizes too late what her friends mean to her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-24 22:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10750842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadIittlenerdking/pseuds/sadIittlenerdking
Summary: It's not that she doesn't see it coming. It's just that its so fluid, and natural, that it kind of hits her long after it's happened.It all started when Eliot got assigned to get a first year to his entrance exam. Kid was late, but he was cute, and Eliot had nothing but good things to say. Well, on Eliot and Margos terms of good - it probably wouldn't be seen the same way if he'd said any of it to someone else. Not that he would have, it's always been just them. They don't confide in, or really bother getting close to anyone.It's Margo and Eliot and nobody needs to understand their language.But of course she insists on meeting this new kid. She assumes that it's just another flavor of the month crush that he'll get over in no time, but that's where her first mistake was, isn't it? Because Quentin is so damn likeable, and somehow just broken enough, to get along perfectly with them.





	Soulmates

It's not that she doesn't see it coming. It's just that its so fluid, and natural, that it kind of hits her long after it's happened.

It all started when Eliot got assigned to get a first year to his entrance exam. Kid was late, but he was cute, and Eliot had nothing but good things to say. Well, on Eliot and Margos terms of good - it probably wouldn't be seen the same way if he'd said any of it to someone else. Not that he would have, it's always been just them. They don't confide in, or really bother getting close to anyone.

It's Margo and Eliot and nobody needs to understand their language.

But of course she insists on meeting this new kid. She assumes that it's just another flavor of the month crush that he'll get over in no time, but that's where her first mistake was, isn't it? Because Quentin is so damn likeable, and somehow just broken enough, to get along perfectly with them.

His transition from being cute nerd Eliot likes to cute nerd Margo actually doesn't mind having around is so seamless she has to take a double take when she sees him sitting with Eliot at the breakfast table one morning. She expects to feel that familiar territorial jealousy spike, but all she feels is a little warmth somewhere near where a normal persons heart would be and then she's moving forward and sitting down next to Quentin, ruffling his hair playfully as they all laugh.

That should have been her first sign that this would all end up like this, but for some reason, it just didn't click.

The next time it kind of hits her, they're sitting in the Physical Kids Cottage lounge, drinking and laughing. It's just her and Quentin.

And she's having fun.

Then Penny nearly gets Quentin expelled, and Alice plays a hand in the whole mess and part of her wants to hurt Alice, despite knowing Quentin cares about her. She plays nice, but Alice catches on, storms off and Margo actually feels bad.

That is until Eliot crawls into her bed upset because apparently Quentin is a broken mess, terrified of getting kicked out of Brakebills. And suddenly the little pit of guilt, one she never has unless in relation to Eliot, completely dissipates.

And then Eliot tells her that he told Quentin about his discovery of his telekinesis, and she's still hitting herself over the head wondering how not even that was enough to make it click.

Daily activities that used to be reserved for Margo and Eliot suddenly include Quentin. They study together, they eat together, they drink together. Their lives have all blended into one big portrait, that suddenly has them, and then Alice and Kady and Penny and all these people Margo would never in a million years invite into her life. They come and go as the months pass, Kady doesn't return from the trials, Alice is a flight risk, and Penny just goes wherever he wants.

But through all of it, what really makes things start to click, is that hedge bitch cursing Quentin.

That's when she realizes she _cares_ about him. And it irritates her for about a day, but he's awake and still himself and when the dean and everyone leave, she and Eliot sit with him on the couch for hours, talking, trying to keep him from falling into a stupor. Because they know he's sick, and after what he's been through, neither of them are willing to risk him slipping.

She knows Eliots in love with him. At least she’s not so oblivious as to miss that.

As time goes on, Eliot falls deeper, and somehow Margo doesn’t mind too much when he blows her off for Quentin, because not even a few hours later, she’s doing the same thing to him. Her dynamic with Quentin is different than with Eliot. Quentin needs people to talk to him, because he wears his heart on his sleeve, and somehow it endears him to her. She actually likes helping him, comforting him. She likes him, maybe as much as Eliot. She likes being able to be there for him in the way Eliot doesn’t allow her to.

But it’s here and now, when she’s the last one to figure it out. Okay, maybe not the last, but Eliot definitely knows, and Alice is too angry not to. Penny’s oblivious, but that’s because he doesn’t care. About Quentin, yes, even if he won’t admit it, but what Quentin means to Margo - to Eliot - he couldn’t care less.

Her feelings come sweeping through her like a tidal wave, and she can clearly see it - the actual love for him. Part of her wants to be mad, because she didn’t intend for this to happen. To give a part of herself to another person. It’s always supposed to have just been Margo and Eliot, nobody else is allowed entrance. Nobody else gets to be a part of this, because it’s special, and nobody else could possibly understand.

But Quentin does, and somehow, over the course of the past few months, in the midst of fighting for their lives and studying magic - Quentin has become a part of _Eliot and Margo_. It’s the three of them, one cohesive unit.

She realizes with a start, as she looks across the circle at him, holding a sobbing Alice, that she would kill for him. She would probably risk her life for him. And usually that kind of realization would send her backtracking into the deepest, darkest void she can find until she can wash off the feelings of trust and comradery, But, there’s no anxiety or fear with the realization. Something inside her knows Quentin would do the same - for both her and Eliot.

But then they do the bottling again, and Eliot gets too wasted to function, and she and Quentin take him upstairs, and she can see it in his eyes that he feels this connection between the three of them - not necessarily romantic, between her and Quentin, at least - but something strong, sturdy, and most importantly: right.

And they fuck it all up.

But then they’re in Fillory, and Quentin’s miserable, and there’s this overwhelming guilt weighing on her chest. She can see it on Eliot’s as well, crushing him, and without his usual fallback weapon on choice, she gets why he takes the first opportunity he has to try and make it up to Quentin.

Eliot is gay. So, so, remarkably gay, and he’s marrying a woman. And the only person who doesn’t realize why, is busy staring off longingly at Alice. Margo wants to hate him for being so oblivious, but this is Quentin, and he feels everything 110%, and pushes down everything he doesn’t understand until it crushes him. He focuses on what makes sense. She can understand why him loving two people at once wouldn’t make sense. So, she doesn’t say anything to him.

And Eliot marries a woman.

And then Quentin has this ridiculous plan to make a ceremony of their crowning, and its both incredibly stupid, and so ridiculously Quentin that she has to try not to smile. Even Eliot can’t hold back a smile when Quentin tells him to kneel. But when it’s Quentin’s turn, she’s speaking before she realizes, and Eliot looks worried, but she takes the crown anyways.

And she does what she doesn’t do well at all. She apologizes.

And then their lives go to shit even further. Alice dies because of Quentin. Quentin kills her to protect Eliot and Margo.

Then he’s in a coma, and then he wakes up, _and then_ he breaks down, and falls apart in every way they’ve tried so desperately to prevent.

She doesn’t talk about it with Eliot, because that’s not what they do - they don’t talk. So she lets her rage at the world fuel her. She gets angry, and she lets it flow out of her every pore. And somehow she’s somebody new. She feels stronger. Even as Quentin attempts to drink himself to death in his mourning, seeming like some weird crossbreed of fresh faced, scared Quentin, and Eliot post- Mike.

And everything gets worse.

And Margo has no idea what to do.

She makes mistakes, does things she never would have done. She regrets it,but she doesn’t know how to change it. Every decision she makes pushes her further and further from Eliot, and Quentin’s already lost himself. She’s so resolutely alone, and it terrifies her.

She fights desperately for a way to bring them back to her. She’d been alone, before she met Eliot, and if not for their relationship, she’d be fine facing that loneliness again. But her relationship with him, and with Quentin now, too, is too important. So she tries to fix her mistakes.

But even giving up an eye doesn’t bring back what she took.

And she can see it in Eliot’s eyes every time he looks at her, and all she wants to do is what they’ve always been so bad at doing - she wants to talk to him. She wants to find a way to fix what they’ve done.

And she thinks Quentin can help. She thinks once everything done with Ember and Umber, once they’re finally done fighting for their lives, the three of them can finally take some time together, to talk. To fix something they lost before they even realized they had it.

But Quentin leaves to check on Alice almost immediately after they win their big battle. And he doesn’t return. Not two days later, not two weeks later, not even six months later.

Eliot unravels in front of her, but he won’t talk to her. He says he’s forgiven her, but things are different. They’re different.

Magic is dead. And so, too, is this wonderful, beautiful thing that she never really got to experience until it was falling through her fingers into that void she used to keep wrapped around her heart.

**Author's Note:**

> The whole dynamic between Margo, Eliot and Quentin is one of my favorites through the show.


End file.
